Category: Reflections
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My First Solo Cartography Project
Discovering Friendship, Resilience, and Beauty in Kenya’s Taita Hills In 2010, I did my first solo cartography project in Africa. Before coming to Kenya in 2009, I had already established a connection with Ronald Mdawida, the director of Kosmos Solutions International, an NGO working in both the Taita Hills and Nairobi’s informal settlements. Since I…
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Exploring the Uncharted
A Take on Mapping Back in July 2010, one of my first mapping projects in Kenya took me to Mount Elgon. It was a task for the National Democratic Institute, focusing on mapping polling stations for election monitoring before the constitutional referendum held on August 4, 2010. Drawing from this experience and incorporating recent experience,…
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Thoughts on Analyzing and Visualizing Text Messages
This blog post discusses the challenges of analyzing text messages and how to make the data useful.
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#HarlemFirst Community Mapping Workshop
In late January, I was invited by Leetha Filderman of PopTech and Cheryl Heller of the School of Visual Arts, MFA Design for Social Innovation (DSI) program, to run a masterclass on community mapping for Harlem First initiative. The initiative is a collaboration between DSI, PopTech, Arnhold Institute for Global Health, and Strive, and its…
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PopTech Talk
I was recently honored by being selected as a 2015 PopTech Social-Innovation Fellow. I had the pleasure to participate in a week long training program with eight other amazing fellows, organized on the beautiful island of North Haven, in Maine. The training program was led by a variety of astonishing faculty and it consisted of…
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Rethinking waste management in Nairobi’s informal settlements
Community-based organizations are in the forefront of dealing with waste management in Nairobi’s informal settlements, however, their interventions often fall short of becoming sustainable and profitable on the long run. Research shows that there is ample opportunity in alternative material recovery, recycling, and sorting of trash in the informal settlements, as well as, in establishing…
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Anacostia, The Death and Life of an American River (A book review)
This recent article on the spike of violence in Southeast Washington D.C. made me think of the book I recently read, Anacostia, The Death and Life of an American River. The book chronologically depicts the emergence of Washington D.C. and how power politics and irresponsible urban planning can create disparities among populations in the same…
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Two and a half years in Africa, Part 2
This is the second in a series of blog posts (here’s the first blog) describing my involvement and experiences working in the field of Information Communications Technology in Africa. At the end of 2010, I became the programs director of Map Kibera, a pioneering collaborative mapping project that engaged local communities to map one of…
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Two and a half years in Africa, Part 1
Africa is undergoing a technological revolution as the spread of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) increasingly impacts the world’s least developed continent. From the dramatic role of social media in the rebellions of North Africa, to the (so far) more subtle impact of cell-phones, mobile-money and cheap GPS south of the Sahara, fundamental changes are…
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Wongonyi and the first map from scratch
Two years ago I embarked on my first freelance mapping adventure in Africa. Prior to my arrival in Kenya in 2009, I connected with Ronald Mdawida, co-director of Kosmos Solutions International, a small NGO operating in both Taita Hills and the slums of Nairobi. Once in Kenya, I had time on my hands. I met…